Digitalization: Rise of the (Mega)Machines

Drawing upon the work of Lewis Mumford, this paper discusses the use of digital technology in terms of polytechnics and monotechnics. The research is conducted by performing a study of prior literature on the history of digital technology in Sweden together with an analysis of Swedish government documents on digitalization. The findings reveal how digital technology was developed for military and scientific needs and then implemented in the public sector, supported by a bureaucratic structure in the 1960s. After a period of pessimism and decentralization in the 1970s and 1980s, digital technology was subject to increased expectations through renewed leadership and additional networked capabilities in the 1990s. After a setback following the dot-com crash, the terminology shifted again: through digital agendas in 2010-2011, digitalization became a dominant term for the use of digital technology in government documents. This paper concludes by presenting five contrast pairs (decentralization and centralization, pluralism and convergence, tool and force, democracy and efficiency, and a serving technology versus a technology that demands adaptation), which can be utilized to analyze what views on technology that become dominant in policies, and practice.